Bracing Myself for Evisceration, But At Least I’ll Probably Still Have All My Horrid Teeth

Well, Fukuoka here I come. I guess my SF-writer credentials maybe came in handy this time, for one of my proposed papers — “Another Undiscovered Country: Understanding the Particularities of Reception and Adoption of the Science Fiction Genre in South Korea Through The Examination of 21st Century Korean SF Cinema” — got accepted for the 4th World Congress of Korean Studies (the site seems not to work in Firefox/Linux… I suspect you need Internet Explorer & Windows to load it, as I was able to get at it on my dual boot) which is happening late this September in Fukuoka, Japan. I need to get them an abstract a bit before midsummer, and the full paper this August. This might sound bizarre, but this is myfirst academic conference, and I have two worries:

How the hell does anyone say anything of any relative complexity or nuance, that does a major topic justice, in ten pages? I mean, the paper title is half a page, right off the bat! But that’s the limit on papers: ten pages, double-spaced. Ah well, the font is 11-point. I guess I’ll manage.

I’m not really, um, a Korean Studies specialist, and I’m thinking my guts will be on the walls by the end of the session. I’ve been eviscerated before in life, but never by people qualified to do so. I think there are going to be a few beta-test runs on my paper, let’s just say that.

Actually, I think I’m going to try to do take a lesson from Scott Eric Kaufman and submit a paper, but deliver a talk. Anyway, I’m grateful to James for posting about it at The Grant Narrative, so I could be possessed by a mad pique and find myself now waiting to be torn to bits by learned people.

That’s the good-but-scary news for today. The good-and-relaxing news is that the reason one of my molars has been feeling loose has nothing to do with cavities — there are none, say the X-Rays — and everything to do with how I grind my teeth at night. The dentist did a little adjusting, and said it probably wouldn’t solve the problem completely…that I’d need some kind of mouth guard in my mouth at night to totally stop grinding. I’m thinking less stress, and more exercise, might do just as well. We’ll see, I guess. So while that naughty tooth will probably persist in freaking out over cold or hot drinks, I’m safe from the horrors of root canal, for now.

And now, Lime says, it’s time for me to come home (with some sushi in tow) so she can stop waiting to watch the cliffhanger for Lost. So off I go…

Woah! This must be more common than I thought! Thanks for the advice, folks!

Okay, quick question…

The night guard, does it affect or impede breathing? I’ve looked around online, and they seem only to go on the top teeth, is that right? If you use one, what brand do you use, and did you get it custom made, or do you use one of those you mold at home?

It’s never impaired my breathing. Go with the custom made one – something you buy online or in a pharmacy could give you an over/underbite. It was expensive to get them done in Canada (about $150) but I got them made in Japan for about $50, and the last nightguard I purchased has lasted about three years.

About your first worry: I was going to suggest that you submit the paper and then deliver a talk… until I read further and saw that you were thinking of doing just that. Anyway, do that. The paper is just something for people to hold in their hands and refer to. You should feel free to elaborate on it as necessary.

That being said, there will be time constraints on your talk as well, so you should probably resign yourself to the fact that you might not be able to go into as much detail as you do elsewhere (say, in one of your legendary posts…).

As for the evisceration part, if you’d like to send me the paper at some point, I’d be happy to give it a read and then pre-eviscerate you over some beers after the semester ends.

I’m also very tempted to head to Fukuoka in September to witness the carnage first hand. It will soon be time for me to start presenting at international conferences (I’ve presented at various different Korean conferences before, but never international ones), and I need to get a handle on which conferences are right for me. I will probably be presenting at the September conference of the Korean Classical Literature Society, though, and I don’t yet know when that will be. Maybe, if there’s no scheduling conflicts, a quick trip to Japan may be in order.

Oh, okay, it’s expensive in that way. I was worried about it being exorbitant. $50-$150 is no problem. Thanks for the advice.

Charles,

Yeah, I figure this’ll be an exercise in boiling stuff down either way. Ah well, different muscle group to work, I guess. I’ll definitely throw my paper at you and see what you think. And buy the beers after, too.

If you were heading to the conference, it’d be cool. We could hang out. (My upstairs neighbour’s also perhaps going.)

Mine is custom made. I used to have a full one, but that did interview with my breathing.

The one I have is called a splint and it goes on the bottom. I wear a regular retainer for more protection on my top teeth. THe bottom one is more expensive, but it still has to be replaced every few years. I have noticed a lot less tension in my jaw since I started using these appliances.